The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline

In late nineteenth-century London, fourteen-year-old Enola Holmes, much younger sister of detective Sherlock Holmes, turns to Florence Nightingale for help when her investigation into the disappearance of a Crimean War widow grows cold

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This is book #5 in the Enola Holmes mystery series. Her landlady has been kidnapped after receiving a strange message regarding Mrs. Tupper's time in Scutari during the Crimean war. Enola tracks down the possible source of it all--one Florence Nightingale. Florence Nightingale calls in Sherlocke Holmes for help, but once again, Enola solves the mystery herself of why Mrs. Tupper was taken and where she could possibly be.

This story does move well. There was more story and less about Enola. We do not see a deepening of her character. She learns nothing new and at the end she decides she will have to reinvent herself again to stay ahead of Sherlocke. Perhaps in the next book we will see a stronger character? Sherlocke keeps letting Enola go about her business of solving the mysteries and does not catch her. This part is pure fantasy rather than the reality that Sherlocke could have caught her a thousand times over by now using his vast intelligence.

In this story, the author delves into the world of the 1880s. She uses big words and deep language. She talks about things from that time period without fully explaining them. For instance, what exactly is a crinoline? I had an idea, but wasn't completely sure. Throughout the book, I who read a lot about this time period and had to work to understand things, wondered how children were to understand more than 50% of the book.

Again, there is much to disturb the young reader. The vile descriptions of the people dying during the war, several hints about prostitution, and several scenes of violence. Enola is a fourteen year old girl who is abandoned by her mother and ends up living on her own in the slums. She keeps a knife in her corset that she does use.

This book is advertized as a junior novel for grades 3-7! These topics are in no way appropriate for a 3rd grader or any elementary student for that matter. If this were a movie, it would be rated PG-13 at least. I would love to see this series reclassified as Young Adult. It is written on the 7.5 grade reading level too.

I would recommend this book for ages 12 and up. It is an interesting mystery for older readers.

Once again, Enola Holmes is on the case! This is perhaps the best one in the series so far, and I've enjoyed them all. Ms. Springer does a nice job of weaving fiction, fact, and legend together to form a cohesive, enjoyable read!